Bay Area vigil held to remember transgender people murdered around the world; marking alarming trend

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Community members held a vigil to remember trans lives lost on Saturday.

And it marked an alarming trend.

One name at a time, read aloud, remembering those lost within the transgender community.

“It’s a fairly emotional event, so to speak, remembering all of our fallen,” said Hazel, Transgender Advocate.

The faces of those fallen, lit by candle in San Jose honoring the transgender lives taken around the world.

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Since launching nearly a decade ago, the Trans Murder Monitoring project has tracked the murder of more than 5,000 transgender people

Its latest report released on Transgender Day of Remembrance shows this year, there have been 350 murders. It surpasses last year’s total of 321.

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“If you can see over here, you’ll see names of people who have died because of violence enacted against them. We are just here to show that. They matter and their deaths were not in vain,” said Sebastian Salinas, Advocate and Organizer.

“Grassroots organizing needs to be in full swing as we’re prepared to see a lot of repression from Trump’s presidency as well as very conservative policies that are passed around the country,” said Romaine Tharite, Transgender Advocate, People’s Pride Coalition.

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According to the Human Rights Campaign, nearly 40% of transgender youth live in states with laws prohibiting gender-affirming care.

“With the tensions increasing all across the country, we have to organize, we have to defend ourselves and we have to educate,” Hazel said.